A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

The following afternoon, at the University of Tokyo Hospital.

"Huh... I'm so tired..."

Sakura Yamauchi sat on a bench in the lobby, waiting for the test results while taking out her phone to browse the messages her friends had sent her, a slight smile on her face as she murmured to herself.

"Fortunately, the checkup is over now, and I can go home soon..."

Just as Sakura Yamauchi was speaking, she sensed someone approaching her. When she looked in the direction of her senses, she saw a handsome boy wearing the uniform of the private Shuchiin Academy, with his jacket unbuttoned, sitting down next to her.

"Eh? You're the one who was with Hui yesterday..."

"Utsunomiya Asagiri."

Asagiri briefly stated her name, then looked at Yamauchi Sakura, her gaze sweeping over the form in the other's hand awaiting the test results, and said in a calm tone.

"sick?"

"Um……"

Sakura Yamauchi first replied subconsciously, then seemed to think of something, her expression softened, and she revealed a lively smile that made people feel good, speaking in a friendly tone.

"Was that thing that came to scare me yesterday sent by you?"

"Correct."

"Oh, I see... I knew it."

Sakura Yamauchi's doubts were answered, and after a few seconds of silence, she suddenly asked an unexpected question.

"Utsunomiya-kun... have you ever thought about what death is like?"

"Yo ho."

To Sakura Yamauchi's surprise, when faced with the question she raised, Asagiri did not fall into deep thought like most people, but instead showed an interested expression and gave an answer that she never expected.

"You've come to the right person; I'm a perfect match for this field."

"Relevant to your major?"

Upon hearing this, Sakura Yamauchi couldn't hold back any longer and asked in return with a smile.

"What do you mean by 'matching your major'... Have you ever died? Is your ghost talking to me now?"

"You know what, I've actually died before. Let me count how many times I've died... I think I've had near-death experiences four or five times, and I think I've died in the real sense two or three times, but I can't remember."

Seeing Asagiri looking like she was seriously recalling something, Yamauchi Sakura didn't know what to say for a moment, and she didn't know whether what the other party was saying was true or false. After a while, she realized what was going on and tentatively asked.

"Um... so you came to see me today because there's something you need?"

"Oh right, why am I reminiscing about the glorious past? I'm here to talk about serious matters."

Asagiri replied with a smile, then took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Yamauchi Sakura. The latter was completely surprised that Asagiri, who was the same age as him and was just a high school student, would suddenly make such a formal gesture. After pausing for a moment, he took the business card and murmured as he looked at the gold lettering on it.

"Ashikaga Takeshiya... um... what's this?"

"This is a faction composed of players."

After handing his business card to Sakura Yamauchi, Asagiri stood up from his seat and said casually.

"If you're interested, come and take a look at the address on the business card. By the way, I know about your abilities, and I extended this invitation to you knowing that."

After saying that, without waiting for Yamauchi Sakura's reply, Asagiri turned and left. After leaving the hospital, he took out his phone, and the screen displayed the detailed panel information of the player "Yamauchi Sakura".

Player Name: Yamauchi Sakura

Physical fitness level: Weak (unable to engage in strenuous exercise)

[Exclusive Talent: Life Link]

[Life Link: When a user uses healing or recovery skills on a target other than themselves, the effect is enhanced.]

[Class: Restoration Priest]

[Player Level: Normal]

Current skills:

【Healing Light: A basic skill for the Healing Priest class, consuming Spirit Points to provide healing effects for wounds.

【Holy Light: Consumes mental energy to create a beam of pure holy energy, dealing significant damage to strange enemies.】

【Holy Blessing: Consumes Spirit Power to apply a blessing effect to a target other than yourself, greatly increasing the speed at which the target recovers Spirit Power and Stamina outside of combat】

[Life Link (Player "Yamachi Sakura" exclusive skill): Can only be activated once every 24 hours. Applies the "Life Link" aura to targets other than yourself, granting them an amazing boost to recovery for the next 10 seconds and forcibly locking their health so they cannot die.]

[Note: Forced invulnerability does not grant immunity to damage; it merely maintains the consciousness of "life." If the body is severely damaged, the target will also lose the ability to move and will die after the "Life Link" effect ends.]

[Note 2: Please use this skill with caution. The pain caused by excessive damage may lead to the complete mental breakdown of the target.]

Current equipment:

[Cleric's Staff (Blue Excellent Quality): When wielding this equipment, the effects of healing skills are slightly enhanced, the player's mental resistance is slightly enhanced, and resistance to curse-type damage is slightly increased.]

【Death's Gift (Gray Quality, Unidentifiable): Exclusive equipment for player "Yamachi Sakura". Before her destined fate arrives, "Yamachi Sakura" will not die in the dungeon. If she dies in the dungeon, she will clear it with a minimum D- rating and will not receive any rewards. Furthermore, her physical attributes will be permanently limited to "Weak" and cannot be improved in any way.】

[Note: Is "fate" unchangeable?]

Current available items:

【Frost Giant's Contract (Purple Excellent Quality, 1 Use Remaining): A contract to summon a Frost Giant. It can be used three times in total. It will be completely destroyed after all uses are exhausted.】

This morning, Asagiri easily found Yamauchi Sakura's private email address using Kind Mita's hacking abilities. Using a secondary email address that Ashikaga Miwa had specially prepared for him, which was untraceable and had no source, she sent him an email with Mad Mita's exclusive abilities.

Crazy Mita's unique ability, "Cyber ​​Hunt," allows her to hack into other people's phones and obtain all the data on those phones, including the player's detailed personal panel information in the eye icon app.

Sakura Yamauchi's class is a healing priest, a rare class that every team wants to have. Although her exclusive talent effect is not particularly powerful, it has a good synergy with the priest support class.

Most of her skills and equipment are only average. Compared to top players like Asagiri, she is only below average, or even at the bottom, among all players at this stage. She is basically not strong.

However, Sakura Yamauchi's unique ability is quite interesting.

The amazing boost to recovery is secondary; the key is the ten-second invulnerability that prevents death.

For most players, this invincibility effect is meaningless; it just means enduring a little more suffering before dying again after the aura effect ends. But it's different for Asagiri.

No matter how severe his injuries are, as long as he is still conscious, he can use "Sacrifice" to heal himself. If he had Yamauchi Sakura's ability, he could avoid the situation where he died instantly and didn't have time to use "Sacrifice" before triggering the Human Asura's "Pointer Mark".

Most importantly, the friend list in the Yamauchi Sakura app is completely empty, which proves that she doesn't have a team and hasn't added any friends even though she's already in the third stage.

Logically speaking, support classes like Healing Priests should be in high demand, and shouldn't be without a party even in the third phase. However, the negative effects of Sakura Yamauchi's exclusive equipment are just too severe.

Her physical condition, which is always limited to the "weak" level and cannot engage in strenuous exercise, is a burden to any player team. In comparison, her abilities are not that indispensable. Even if she joins a player team, she will only be abandoned by her teammates in critical moments when they need to escape. Perhaps Sakura Yamauchi herself understands this. Rather than joining a team that may abandon her at any time, it is better to always be a lone wolf player with a higher probability of clearing the game.

"Utsunomiya Asagiri..."

Meanwhile, sitting in the hospital, Sakura Yamauchi looked at the business card in her hand, recalling her conversation with Asagiri just now, and a complicated look appeared in her eyes.

"He knows my abilities... knows my physical condition... and yet he still extended an invitation to me...?"

81

Chapter 81: The Challenge of Forming a Power.

Later that day, inside a dojo in Tokyo.

"After joining Ashikaga Takeshi, you will be required to provide assistance in the event of dangerous incidents in the real world, such as invasions by players from other worlds. In return, we will provide you with 500,000 yen in sponsorship funds every month. If you feel that you are being targeted by other players in the real world, we will also help you deal with it and protect your safety in the real world. In addition, we will provide training grounds and facilities as part of the future development plan for 'players'."

"We have an internal contribution point system. You can earn contribution points by handing in unwanted equipment or items, helping players who need special care to clear dungeons, providing information about the 'game,' and so on. These contribution points can be used to exchange for equipment or items, team up with powerful players to enter dungeons, exchange them directly for cash, or apply for priority access to certain special training facilities."

"That's about it. Oh, right, there's one more thing..."

Ashikaga Miwa paused here, glanced at the dozen or so players in front of her, and slowly began to speak.

"If you leak any classified information, you will be killed by us, understand?"

After everyone nodded, one player suddenly raised his hand and couldn't help but ask a question out of curiosity.

"Um...we heard you have a very powerful player here, is that true?"

Ashikaga Miwa seemed to have anticipated that these players who came for the "interview" would ask such questions. After all, during Sunday's incident, the Metropolitan Police Department and other official agencies had realized that she was cooperating with a certain, or rather, several, powerful players, which was why no innocent civilians were injured or killed in the otherworld player invasion incident.

The dozen or so players present had all received this information from various sources and knew that Ashikaga Miwa was recruiting "players" to form a faction, which is why they came here today.

"It's true, you want to see him?"

"if you can……"

Before the player could finish speaking, a sudden, inexplicable, intense fear gripped the dozen or so players present.

"Thump, thump, thump... tumble..."

As the footsteps drew closer, the dozen or so players couldn't help but look in the direction from which they heard them. There, they saw a mysterious figure wearing a long black trench coat and a dark gray mask slowly stepping into the dojo.

The moment they saw the morning mist, the fear in all the players intensified, and they even felt their limbs become cold and numb. They immediately realized something.

The player in front of me was very strong. Although he had only walked in slowly, the aura emanating from him gave me, as a player, an instinctive sense of danger.

"Yo."

Among the dozen or so players, Asagiri spotted four familiar faces, raised his hand to greet them, and only when he spoke did the chilling aura that had permeated the arena finally dissipate.

“A good bird chooses a good tree to perch on, and a good minister chooses a good lord to serve. I am very pleased that you have made the right choice.”

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, the man, still wearing the white suit, shook his head with a wry smile.

"It's been a while since we last met. You're still as unserious as ever, but I'm relieved now. It really is you."

"Don't speak in such a mushy tone, it sounds like you're chasing after your husband from afar."

Asagiri first replied with a slightly disdainful tone, then looked at the other players present and spoke with a smile.

"Alright, is there anything else you'd like to ask about the conditions Ms. Ashikaga just mentioned?"

"that……"

A female player cautiously raised her hand, like a student asking a question to a teacher in class. After all, from her perspective, although Asagiri spoke very kindly, even somewhat casually and abstractly, the oppressive feeling she exuded the moment she stepped through the door had left a deep impression on her.

"Isn't 500,000 yen a month a bit too little?"

"It's not much, but..."

Asagiri looked at the players present and slowly began to speak.

"As long as you provide valuable resources such as equipment, items, and intelligence, you can obtain additional sponsorship funds. The real-world shelter we provide to you comes with no additional conditions. I think this is a fair enough deal."

Hearing Asagiri's words, the players present could understand. Although some wealthy people were willing to offer exorbitant prices to hire players, they would also need players to act as bodyguards in return. However, Ashikaga Miwa did not have so many requirements. She would only need to help when special events occurred, and she would also ensure the safety of players in the real world. So, a smaller amount of sponsorship was not a big deal.

"Excuse me, what exactly do you mean by protecting us in the real world? Will there be someone to protect us closely?"

"Then you're really overthinking it."

Asagiri shook her head, speaking calmly.

"It's pointless for ordinary people to protect you, and it's unrealistic to expect players to protect you. After all, would you want to be someone else's bodyguard? So we offer two types of protection. The first is that you tell us when you realize you're being targeted, and then we'll handle it. The second is..."

At this point, Asagiri paused slightly, then said softly.

"If you are killed, we will find the killer and the organization that may be behind him, and then kill all the enemies. As long as everyone is aware of this, no one in the real world will dare to easily attack you. This is what is called deterrence and prevention."

Seeing that the players present looked somewhat skeptical, Chaowu slowly walked to the center of the arena and spoke with a smile.

"Of course, anyone can do it just by talking. But to convince you that we have the ability to do these things, I'll give you a chance to challenge me."

Upon hearing this, the players exchanged glances, and finally a male player of medium build stepped forward.

"Then I will..."

Are you kidding me?

Before the other party could speak, Asagiri interrupted in a calm tone, uttering a statement that made all the players present, except for the four members of the white-suited squad, frown slightly, appearing extremely arrogant.

"One-on-one? That would only bore me. I'm talking about you all. Anyone who wants to challenge me, come at me all at once."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, apart from the four members of the white-suited squad, all the players present couldn't help but have the same thought.

You've really gone too far with your arrogance.

The people present, while not necessarily the top players at this stage, are certainly among the better ones. Apart from the four members of the white-suited team, there are twelve other players present. You mean they'll all come at you at once? Does that mean they'll take on twelve players at once?

Are you kidding me? Even if you're a whole level better, you still couldn't do something like that.

"Hmph, since he's said so, let's go together."

Most of the players who survived to the third stage were very confident. Faced with Chaowu's arrogant words, they felt very unconvinced and immediately took two steps forward. Unlike the twelve players who took the initiative to step forward, the four members of the white suit team began to retreat until their backs were against the metal wall. They obviously had no intention of participating in the so-called challenge.

They are not stupid.